The European Commission proposed Thursday new rules to make sure the European Union is better prepared to face natural gas shortages, as a potential new crisis between Ukraine and Russia risks affecting European supplies.
With the new rules, the E.U. will be able to "speak with one voice and act as one entity" in case of an emergency, Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said during a press conference, adding that another gas crisis can't be excluded, even as early as August.
The proposal comes months before it was expected, as new friction between Russia and Ukraine over gas payments suggests there may be a repeat of last January's crisis when a price dispute between the two countries led to gas supply disruptions to Europe for weeks.
Each of the 27 E.U. countries would have to designate an authority to look after gas supply security and prepare a preventive action plan and an emergency plan to face any potential shortage,according to the proposal.
The new rules would give the commission a bigger role in coordinating the E.U.'s preparedness and response to a crisis, as it would have the authority to request changes to these plans if it considers them "not effective" or not compatible with one another.
The commission would also be able to declare an E.U.-wide emergency, in which case it would coordinate the actions of the 27 E.U. countries, as well as the interaction with third countries. This would happen if one of the country's authorities requested it, or if the E.U. lost more than 10% of its daily imports from third countries. It would have to declare an emergency once more than one country had done so.
The European Parliament and the 27 E.U. governments will have to back the commission's proposal before it can become law, in a negotiation process which is likely to take monthsand might lead to a weaker final version of the rules.
Thursday's proposal "will not be watered down because we proposed a text that is really the optimum text, and we believe we can defend it," Piebalgs said, adding that it was put together after consultation with governments and the industry.
Europe imports a quarter of its gas from Russia and 80% of that flows through Ukraine, which is facing a deep economic crisis and struggled to pay its gas bill for June.The commission is now concerned the countrywill have a hard time meeting an August deadline to pay for July deliveries.
The bill is likely to be much higher because Ukraine has to start filling its storage tanks with gas to meet Europe's higher winter demand.
However, the E.U. has taken measures, Piebalgs said Thursday. "We have taken enough measures, together with the industry, to get us through this winter if the worst happens," he said.
The commission will meet Ukraine, Russia, their gas companies and international financial institutions Friday, the second meeting in less that a month, to explore the possibility of a loan to Ukraine to help the country with the payment.
At the time of the first meeting last month, people familiar with the matter said that about $2 billion was needed to pay the Russian gas bills. Ukraine had initially asked for $4.2 billion.